I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

Quote by Igor Stravinsky

Topics: Igor Stravinsky Quotes

Is it not by love alone that we succeed in penetrating to the very essence...

Is it not by love alone that we succeed in penetrating to the very essence...

Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.

Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it.

I haven't understood a bar of music in my life, but I have felt it.

The Church knew what the psalmist knew: Music praises God. Music is well or better...

The Church knew what the psalmist knew: Music praises God. Music is well or better...

A plague on eminence! I hardly dare cross the street anymore without a convoy, and...

A plague on eminence! I hardly dare cross the street anymore without a convoy, and...

In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more...

In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more...

Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.

Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.

My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name...

My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name...

My music is best understood by children and animals.

My music is best understood by children and animals.

Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing...

Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing...

To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears...

To listen is an effort, and just to hear is no merit. A duck hears...

Just as appetite comes from eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible...

Just as appetite comes from eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible...

I was born out of due time in the sense that by temperament and talent...

I was born out of due time in the sense that by temperament and talent...

Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing...

Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing...

The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self. And the arbitrariness of...

The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self. And the arbitrariness of...

It's one of nature's ways that we often feel closer to distant generations than to...

It's one of nature's ways that we often feel closer to distant generations than to...

I am an inventor of music.

I am an inventor of music.

Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven.

Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven.

The principle of the endless melody is the perpetual becoming of a music that never...

The principle of the endless melody is the perpetual becoming of a music that never...